Shipping, Inventory,
and Laws
Nursery Management Magazine State of the Industry survey
Garden Centers
Short, high-volume seasonal periods need large
quantities of common plants
11.3% 1st quarter Jan.-Mar.
39.3% 2nd quarter April-June
20% 3rd quarter July-Sept.
29.4% 4th quarter Oct.-Dec.
Frank’s Nursery Sales Inc.
Spring Sales
•Starts with dormant, bare-root (roses, fruit trees)
•B&B, container and bedding
Timing Deliveries for Garden Centers is crucial
•Producers must deliver on-time
•1st few warm weekends
•Able to accelerate deliveries in response to good weather
•Deliver according to retailers advertising schedule
Timing Deliveries for Landscape Contractors
•Longer season than garden centers
•Scheduled deliveries to the day or hour
•Purchase large amounts of common stock for future jobs
Nursery-to-market
•Buyer pick-up
•Seller delivery
•Third party carrier
Conveyor Loading
The Plant Group
North Franklin, CT
Wholesale perennials
Est. 1986
Freight Charge and Delivery
Schedule
Deliveries are made by a Plant
Group Truck that is operated by a
Plant Group employee.
Freight charges are invoiced as a
percentage of the invoice before
discounts.
Deliveries made beyond 150 miles
are not indicated on the map and
will be quoted on receipt of order.
Our minimum delivery fee is $100.
•Open carriers: wind whip, desiccation, physical damages,
•Rapid transport, cover plants, anti-transpirents
Plants Vulnerable During Transport
•Moisture and temperature needs; generally moist and cool
•Impacts packaging and transportation methods
•Water adds weight; weight adds cost
Inventory
Plant Inventory System
•Important for production scheduling, calculating costs, pricing
•Minimize overselling or leaving plants unsold
•Forecast next year’s sales: “Market plans”
Plant Inventory System
•Common to organize by plant group, species, cultivar
•How many of each type in what size (#1, #2, #3…..)
•Planting blocks and rows
•American Standards for Nursery Stock
Recording Inventory
•Clip boards and mechanical counters
•Electronic notebooks; ipad, tablet
•Date sold
•Date potted up
•Location
•Quantity
•Accession number
•Stage of growth
Example: Live inventory at
Prides Corner Farms accessible
to customers
LR = landscape ready
RR = retail ready
BBL= Bud and bloom retail ready
Inventory Purchased Materials
Track purchase orders and receipts of nursery
stock and supplies from vendors
Media components
Fertilizer
Pesticides
Record brand name and LOT numbers (recalls)
Equipment Inventory
•Trucks, tree spades, wagons
•Planting, potting
•Fertilizer spreaders, irrigation
•Hand tools
Codes: for organization, data processing and to
expedite processing of orders by inexperienced help
Labels
•Colors, numbers, letters, bar codes
•Classify: species, cultivar, grade, price
Labels
•Printers and barcodes
•Color labels may indicate price
Record cultural conditions
What was applied, when, at what rate, under what weather
conditions
•Plant conditions
•New growth present or absent
•Recently planted or transplanted
•Well rooted
•Mix components
•Source of liners
Merchandising
•Plants organized into different themes, functions, traits
•Different pot colors, specialized labels, logos
•Ex. Proven Winners, White Flower Farm, American Beauties
Point of purchase materials
Pink Ribbon Plants™
10% to breast cancer research
Sara’s Super Herbs®
50¢/pot to Easter Seals Camp Hemlocks
Laws
Federal laws
•Social Security, Fair Labor Standards (minimum wage),
Workers’ Compensation, Quarantine
•Environmental Pesticide Control Act
•Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act
(MSPA)
Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker
Protection Act (MSPA)
Employment standards
related to wages, housing
and transportation
Mickman Brothers Inc., Ham Lake, Minnesota
•17 workers filed a civil suit for violation of MSPA
•Claiming they did not receive jobs and travel
reimbursements promised to them
Filed suit in 2005
Imperial Nurseries, Granby, CT
•12 men from Guatemala on U.S. authorized 6-month worker program:
wages of $7.50/hr, travel reimbursement, work in North Carolina
•Arrived in N.C. and sent to Imperial Nurseries in CT (human trafficking)
•Labor for Imperial was being handled by an outside labor contractor,
Pro Tree Forestry Services
•Claims: forced to work 80+ hrs/week, received $3.75/hr, no reimbursement,
denied emergency medical care, confiscated passports, threatened with
jail or deportation
•Settlement: $39,414 back wages
$3900 civil money penalties
Filed suit in 2007
CNLA email update
March 25, 2011
“Federal Immigration
Authorities Are Launching
1000 Business Audits”
“Make sure you have a fully-
completed I-9 form on each
and every one of your
employees, backed up by the
required documentation.
These audits always include
green industry.”
State and Local Laws
Total Nursery Stock Sales 4,545 7
2,481
Nursery stock was the largest horticultural
Labor2,342challenges & State of the industry
2,377
category by value of sales and accounted
for 33% of all horticultural sales. Broadleaf
1,965 evergreens was the largest category of
nursery stock sales and accounted for 6%
1,707 of total horticultural sales.
Sales to landscape Expenditures, 2019
contractors was the % Change
largest marketing $ Million Since 2014
channel by volume of
Labor 4,878 10
sales, accounting for
Seeds, growing media,
18% of total sales. Retail
containers 2,902 5
garden centers and
Fuel, utilities, supplies,
other mass marketers
repairs 1,369 -8
accounted for 17% each.
Rent, interest, taxes 759 9
Other 751 38
Fertilizer and chemicals 675 -9
Marketing and packaging 302 -1
Total 11,636 6
y to consumers.
icultural products. Horticultural operations reported
$11.6 billion in production expenses in 2019.
n Characteristics by Sales Class, 2019 (percent of total)
Wholesale Retail Hired
Operations Sales Sales Sales Expenses Workers
Nursery Management Magazine State of the Industry survey
